Once Upon A Midnight Stroll
by Yarol
Summary: Gordon cannot sleep and so takes a stroll around the Island encountering the Mechanic.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Notes: Takes place between **Buried Treasure **&** Venom**. I headcanon the Mechanic as a self-made cyborg._

* * *

Gordon couldn't sleep. Maybe it was that Scott was flipping between being Mr. Chipper or Mr. Impatient Snarls-Alot without any warning a lot lately. Or Virgil being a grumpasaurus rex far longer than he usually was when some of his artwork got ruined. Or finding out the Mechanic was free of the Hood (Yay!) but The Hood knew about the reconstruction of the T-Drive (Not So Yay.) But Gordon couldn't sleep.

He wanted to swim, but he respected the family rule of someone else must be awake and alert and within acceptable physical distance (John might be awake, but there was little he could do up in Thunderbird Five if a mishap in the pool occurred) before anyone could swim in the pool, even the gold-medal Olympian. So, he settled for a good long walk around the island.

Tracy Island was both stark and beautiful. The native plants were tenacious in their survival on otherwise barren rocks, and the few plants that had been brought and planted that had been deemed 'safe' and unlikely to supplant the native plant only added to the near surrealness of the place. Gordon appreciated just how much work his Dad and Brains had put into making their home beautiful as well as functional.

As he was returning to the main house, he saw someone sitting? Squatting? Well, obviously not standing, at the very edge of the maintained side of the island's flora.

Initially he thought it was Virgil from the breadth of the shoulders and crest of the hair, but there was no mistaking the Mechanic when the clouds broke, and the moonlight illuminated the extensive tattoos on his back and shoulders. At least, Gordon hoped it was tattoos on his back; there was a quality in some of the darkness that suggested input sockets. The man was huddled into himself. Knees to chest, arms around knees, head down. He was shaking minutely. Something was clearly wrong.

Gordon was just going to walk away, go get Brains or something, but… You didn't leave someone suffering, alone. It wasn't the International Rescue thing to do.

It wasn't the Tracy thing to do.

Even if the person had torn your Thunderbird in half.

Taking a deep breath, he crossed over to where the Mechanic was, and sat down mimicking the Mechanic's position, except his head was up and he was watching the sky. A few minutes later, after gathering his courage, he reached and lightly placed a hand on the Mechanic's shoulder and felt a whole-body shudder run through the man's frame. But he didn't remove his hand.

"I couldn't sleep, decided to take a walk," Gordon just started rambling, going on about how the island's flora and fauna seemed so different at night and how much brighter the stars seemed here in comparison to Kansas or Arizona, even if the farmhouse or ranch were in the middle of nowhere themselves, and anything else that crossed his mind, "…and if you hear Grandma looking for someone to try something she's made? Go hide under Dad's, well, my Dad's Desk, I think you'll fit, we once managed to fit all five of us, Kayo _and _MAX under there, usually she'll relent…"

The Mechanic lifted and turned his head a little, just enough for Gordon to see the suggestion of eyes. That was enough.

"That bad, huh?" Gordon's voice gentled from quiet exuberance to soothing concern.

"Nightmares," came the rumbled answer, "I fail again."

"Uhuh," Gordon nodded, "you realize you didn't fail the first time, big guy, the Hood's just an asshat."

"Everyone_ thought_ I failed," the Mechanic retorted, " and…it isn't just the t-drive…I fail."

Gordon let the silence hang there, waiting to be filled.

Sure enough...

"He gets control of me again. I can't fight him. And he makes me go on a rampage. People get...hurt."

It doesn't take much to read between those lines.

"Not going to happen," Gordon said confidently, "Not after Brains kicked him out of your head."

"It's not Brains that I doubt," the Mechanic quietly confided, another shudder running through him, "but I let the Hood in once, thinking I could handle him. What if I make that mistake again?"

Gordon considered this, and how to answer. He wanted to tell him that they wouldn't let him, but he'd heard how badly the Mechanic had reacted when Alan had apparently said something like "grab him" up on the Hex from Kayo. The last thing he needed to hear was something that seemed it would take away his self-determination.

"Weeellll, if you think something like that might happen, talk to Brains, or Kayo, or any of us really, maybe not Scott, or Virgil until he's over the topiary," Gordon suggested, then a thought struck him, "actually, talk to Grandma. She's good at keeping people on track. She'll Grandma _anyone_ who'll let her."

"Well, there are a few _exceptions_."

Both of them startled. Gordon actually rolled over on to his side, and the Mechanic turned a haunted face to Sally Tracy.

"But you're not one of them, dear," Grandma Tracy said kindly, as she wrapped a blanket around the Mechanic's shoulders, "I know it's seems warm here, but you could catch your death of cold wandering around the island at night without a shirt on, and Brains seems worried about dirt getting into your interfaces."

"Thank you…" the Mechanic floundered for a moment before settling on a quiet, "ma'am."

"Call me Grandma. You're going to be staying with us for a while. Saves me a lot of trouble remembering what to answer to," Grandma Tracy chuckled, "Now, Virgil is back in there making his fancy golden moon milk, whatever that is, and says it might be just what we all need to get back to sleep."

Gordon tumbled up to his feet, then offered the Mechanic a hand up. The Mechanic unfolded slowly upwards and rolled his shoulders carefully not to dislodge the blanket; he cautiously offered his arm to Grandma Tracy, who took it with a smile.

"There might even be some of my famous cookies to dunk in the milk."

Gordon leaned around his Grandma and gave the Mechanic a sly grin.

"Welcome to the Family."


	2. Breaking Points

_Author's notes/Chapter Summary: The Zero-XL is launched and gone. And Grandma Tracy needs to carry on but everyone has a breaking point. _  
_Funny how little acts of kindness can return when you need them most._

_I'm pretty certain they're not going to have IR gone for a very long time, but this kinda popped into my head and I wanted to get it in before Saturday._

* * *

It had been over a year, and nothing. Only the terrible knowledge that the Hood had somehow made his way onto the Zero XL. Sally Tracy feared that that vile monster had taken all of her family from her.

She did her best to keep a bright outlook for Lady Penelope and Parker. Allowing Penelope to swoop her up during all the holidays and birthdays and anniversaries that would have been impossible to face otherwise.

She'd have a rousing night out with Kayo now and again. Kayo was busy with the GDF, rooting the insidious network of spies and other bad eggs that the Hood had manage to sink to the very force that was suppose to be working against them. She couldn't blame her, at Kayo's age she had been just as much of a hellraiser, even with a husband and child.

Colonel Casey kept her abreast of any and all possible information, but there was so very _very_ little.

She fussed at EOS when she thought the A.I. was taking on too much – although EOS assured her that was not likely, and privately yearned to be able to wrap her arms around the only great grandchild she may possible ever have. The A.I. was reminding her more and more of John each day; she couldn't bear to examine that too closely for fear it being revealed to be wishful thinking.

She was gentle with Kyrano when they had their weekly call. The man seemed to have aged even more than her eighty-plus years for all that he was no older than her son.

Her façade only ever cracked a little with the Mechanic, but then the man had appointed himself her support and guardian. And she had needed his looming presence at her shoulder when dealing with Tracy Industries board of directors. It also helped he did have also as good a mind for business as he did engineering.

Still the Island felt too empty to stay on. Lady Penelope's kind offer to stay with her seemed too much of an imposition. The various family business apartments too clean and impersonal. The farmhouse in Kansas was too haunted.

So Gran Roca Ranch it was. There were so many happy memories there; warm spirits that danced in the corner of her eyes. The Mechanic moved into Brain's lab under main house and was busy creating rescue gear and mechanisms for the World's First Responders, as well as working on his own interests. She knew he was holding some things back, for when her boys came back and resumed their work.

Or, if they never returned, he would resurrect the Thunderbirds and International Rescue would fly again. With her blessing.

That was always in the back of her mind. Sally knew she couldn't let her son and grandson's legacy die, any more than the Mechanic would allow Brains' legacy to die. Without consciously realizing it, she was making lists of people to invite as a new International Rescue. On sleepless nights she would wandering through the Ranch's main house whispering, considering, and discarding names of candidates.

One such night found her sitting on the front steps of the Ranch looking up at the stars. She shivered. The desert could get cold at night, even in the Summer.

Something light, yet warm was draped around her shoulders, startling her slightly. A soft blanket.

"You could catch your death of cold," a deep voice said as the Mechanic sat down next to her; the man could move quietly when he wanted, or perhaps she had been too deep in her reverie to notice, "and I don't want to have to explain that to Kayo when she visits, or to your son and grandsons when they return."

"_If_ they return," she said quietly, bleakly, voicing for the first time her fear, "A parent shouldn't have to lose their child, and now I've lost my son and my grandsons."

"They will return," the Mechanic assured her, "they will be back."

"They should have been back before now!" she surprised herself with a shout, "They should have….They should have…"

Sally Tracy finally fell apart into sobs. She let herself be gently pulled over to the Mechanic's side and embraced and comforted. She didn't really hear any of the words he said, but the man rumbled like a large cat purring. She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew she found herself tucked into her bed and sunlight streaming the curtains, and feeling her age in aches and pains. With a sigh she slowly sat up and work herself up to getting out of bed, when two things happened: the door to her room opened suddenly emitting the Mechanic and Kayo, and EOS' avatar burst up from the her communicator, her lights circling from blue to green and shades in between.

"Grandma!" three voices nearly harmonized.

"They're coming home!" EOS managed to edge the other two out.

* * *

It was still three weeks before the Zero -XL made it from the inner edge of the Solar System to Earth. Three agonizing three weeks with limited communications. The Hood had caused nigh-catastrophic trouble and in the end paid with his life. They had had to repair the Zero-XL out there in the Oort Cloud. They would need to rebuilt Thunderbirds one, three, and five, and Thunderbird two was patched and welded and almost unrecognizable. Only Thunderbird four was still intact and recognizable.

Their damaged communication array could only send small microburst radio signals, although Brains had figured out how to compress a lot of data into those microbursts.

The first of those microbursts would always be the dearest to Sally's heart.

_IR Coming Home. 6 Tracys. 1 Brains. Alive. Well. ETA 3Wks._

* * *

And now, at the GDF base at Glennfield, the Zero-XL finally touched down.

There was quite a crowd, but they were contained but temporary fencing and the stern presence of Colonel Casey held them back.

A smaller group was eagerly awaiting the improvised ramp to lower from what remained to the Zero-XL.

And when it did...when it did...Sally Tracy felt her heart give a painful thump and she froze as her son, her boy, her baby walked down that ramp supported by Gordon and Alan. A large warm hand gave her a gentle push forward.

"Go on, Grandma," the Mechanic murmured.

She never was certain how fast she moved after that, but she did remember that both Gordon and Alan (good grief that boy had hit a growth spurt in space!) yelped when she collided into them and wrapped her arms around Jeff, and that she was crying into his chest.

"Awww, Mom," Jeff engulfed her in his arms, "I'm all right."

And so finally was she.

* * *

_Additional Author's Notes:_

_For the curious and this has no real bearing on the story but these is my headcanon for ages/years of birth the Tracys are as follows:_  
_Sally was born in 1975, which may make her ninety in this story, but she's never going to admit to older than 85. I figure by the 2060's medical care for the elderly is very good and Sally can afford the best. Plus she strikes me as the type that will keep going until one day she simply doesn't._  
_Jeff was born in 2000._  
_Lucy was born in 2005._  
_Scott was born in 2028_  
_Virgil & John were born in 2033 of one of those rare, weird pregnancy here one eggs is fertilized and then a few weeks later a second egg is fertilized; which is why they're almost twins. It was a very complicated and dangerous, which is why the five years between their births and Gordon's was deliberate. (The fives years between Scott and Virgil & John was just a fluke.)_  
_Gordon was born in 2038_  
_Alan was born in 2045 – a surprise late in life baby._


End file.
